'Editorial': Navigating the ever-evolving landscape of digital deception

Almost every week, a new way of supposedly earning a lot of money pops up on either our social media feeds or sent from someone we know.

Many will ignore it but the very few inquisitive and mostly desperate lot will sign up for it.

Little do they know this is just another online scam designed to entice and play with your emotions for financial gain.

By the time they realise what's happening, the scam organisers have already siphoned off hundreds, if not thousands, with the victims' hard-earned cash.

Online scams are coming in many forms and sizes. Last year's EbayShop Online Recruitment Scheme that had hundreds of Fijians signed up was a classic example of just how good a scam, in this case, a pyramid or Ponzi scheme can be.

Just when you think it was legitimate, it all came crashing down.

At the height of its popularity, the powers that be and platform providers were queried on what it could do to strengthen laws and regulations to protect ordinary citizen from the scams.

At the time, the Minister for Communications, Manoa Kamikamica, said it would create a taskforce to investigate the said.

The Anti-Scam Taskforce set the precedent and positive step forward for that particular Ebay Shop and future online scams.

Mr Kamikamica also noted the reality that the laws that governed online protection in Fiji did not have enough powers to enforce or hold to account those behind such scams.

Other ways the Online Safety Commission and stakeholders could be relevant is by imposing fines and call to action when an individual or group makes a complaint(s).

Fast-forward to 2024, a recently noted scam, said to be out of the Philippines has started to gain momentum.

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Working closely with the anti-scam taskforce, spearheaded by the Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives, SMEs and Communications, the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC) is monitoring

"Elite Society' which is recruiting members of the public on social media, primarily on Facebook. The scheme presented has many of the markers of a "pyramid scheme", specifically in the guise of multi-level marketing, FCCC said in a release.

But aside from Government and agency intervention, the onus is on individuals to decide whether to sign up or pause to research on information on scams like these.

Stakeholders can create awareness, empower individuals, enact laws and regulations to protect citizens but at the end of the day, if individuals jump onto that bandwagon blindly, they have only themselves to blame.

Key to this is information, as they say, is power.

If individuals have time to sign up for such schemes, they should also make time to research or risk losing their hard-earned money and their minds to it.

Feedback: ranoba.baoa@fijisun.com.fj